Variable compression system for controlling slant angle of slant plate

ABSTRACT

A variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate may include a rotation plate, the slant plate coupled to one side of the rotation plate, a compression piston connected to an edge of the slant plate, a slant control shaft connected to a center of the slant plate with a variable pin arranged to rotate with the slant plate for pushing or pulling the slant plate by a hydraulic pressure being supplied thereto to control the slant angle of the slant plate, a position guiding shaft arranged passed through a center portion of the slant control shaft, a position detecting sensor engaged to the position guiding shaft for detecting a position of the position guiding shaft, and a control unit for determining the slant angle of the slant plate with reference to a signal from the position detecting sensor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0167814 filed on Dec. 30, 2013, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate to control a reciprocating range of a piston for controlling a load of refrigerant compression, and sensing the slant angle of the slant plate, easily.

2. Description of Related Art

A compressor applied to a vehicle is a variable capacity compressor which has suction and discharge rates controlled by a control valve and the slant plate mounted in the compressor, automatically.

Since a major feature of the variable capacity compressor lies on variable control of a flow rate of the refrigerant throughout an entire operation range of a cooling load of an air conditioner, no frequent compressor on/off control is required.

Owing to this, a range of a temperature change of discharge air to a room which takes place when the compressor is turned on/off may be reduced, enabling to secure uniformity of a room cooling temperature.

In this case, a lower end of the slant plate is pushed to a right side to reduce a slant angle thereof. If the slant angle of the slant plate is reduced thus, a stroke of the piston mounted to the slant plate is reduced to reduce the refrigerant discharge rate, too.

And, if the slant angle of the slant plate and the operation stroke of the piston become large, the refrigerant discharge rate of the compressor also increases.

In the meantime, since a pressure of the refrigerant varies with an external environment, even if the same control voltage is applied, a position of the slant plate varies to vary a pumping rate of the refrigerant. Consequently, calculation of a torque required for operation of the refrigerant compressor is difficult, to fail precise control of the refrigerant compressor, resulting in failure in optimization of fuel consumption efficiency.

The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various aspects of the present invention are directed to providing a variable compression system in which a slant angle of a slant plate is sensed more precisely, the slant angle of the slant plate is controlled more precisely and quickly to calculate a torque required for operation of a refrigerant compressor, to control the slope angle of the slant plate quickly.

In an aspect of the present invention, a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate may include a rotation plate arranged to rotate with reference to a rotation axis, the slant plate coupled to one side of the rotation plate with a hinge arranged to rotate with the rotation plate, a compression piston connected to an edge of the slant plate arranged to reciprocate along the rotation axis by rotation of the slant plate, a slant control shaft connected to a center of the slant plate with a variable pin arranged to rotate with the slant plate for pushing or pulling the slant plate by a hydraulic pressure being supplied thereto to control the slant angle of the slant plate, a position guiding shaft arranged passed through a center portion of the slant control shaft for moving according to movement of the slant control shaft, a position detecting sensor engaged to the position guiding shaft for detecting a position of the position guiding shaft, and a control unit for determining the slant angle of the slant plate with reference to a signal from the position detecting sensor.

The control unit controls to vary a compression capacity of the compression piston which compresses a refrigerant with the slant angle of the slant plate.

The position guiding shaft is connected to the variable pin to rotate with the slant plate.

The position guiding shaft is arranged to rotate at the slant control shaft and to move with the slant control shaft in a length direction of the slant control shaft.

The variable compression system may further include a securing flange formed on one side of the position guiding shaft, and a securing cap fastened to an end portion of the slant control shaft rotatably passed through the position guiding shaft for fastening the securing flange to the slant control shaft in a length direction thereof.

A valve is mounted to an outer circumference of the securing cap.

The position detecting sensor is a contact sensor which is in contact with the position guiding shaft.

The position detecting sensor may have a guide groove for guiding movement of the position guiding shaft, the guide groove being matched with an outside circumference of the position guiding shaft.

In another aspect of the present invention, the variable compression system can detect the slant angle of the slant plate more precisely and quickly with the position detecting sensor which detects a position of the position guiding shaft which is movable by the slant plate and the slant control shaft.

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other features and advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and the following Detailed Description, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross sectional view of a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, schematically.

FIG. 2 illustrates a partial perspective view of a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a partial perspective view of a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a partial sectional view of a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.

In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross sectional view of a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, schematically.

Referring to FIG. 1, the variable compression system includes a pulley 100, a rotation shaft 105, a slant plate 130, a piston 110, a position guiding shaft 164, a compression chamber 120, a valve 112, a control valve 170, a control unit 160, a position detecting sensor 162, a hydraulic chamber 186, a slant control shaft 180, a slant plate hinge 140, and a rotation plate 150.

The pulley 100 receives a torque from an engine or a motor for rotating the rotation shaft 105. There is the slant plate 130 arranged at one side edge of the rotation plate 150 which is mounted on the rotation shaft 105 to be rotatable round the slant plate hinge 140.

The variable compression system has a structure in which the pulley 100, the rotation shaft 105, the slant plate hinge 140 and the slant plate 130 rotate, simultaneously.

And, the compression piston 110 is arranged at an edge of the slant plate 130 such that the compression piston 110 reciprocates in the compression chamber 120 following rotation of the slant plate 130.

The slant control shaft 180 is arranged on the same axis with the rotation shaft 105 connected to a center of the slant plate 130, and the slant control shaft 180 has an end portion with a valve 112 mounted thereto. The valve 112 is arranged in the hydraulic chamber 186 to be movable by a hydraulic pressure being supplied to the hydraulic chamber 186 to push/pull the slant control shaft 180 for controlling a slant angle of the slant plate 130.

And, the hydraulic pressure being supplied to the hydraulic chamber 186 is controlled by the control valve 170, and the control valve 170 is controlled by the control unit 160.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the position guiding shaft 164 is arranged passed through a center portion of the slant control shaft 180 in a length direction such that the position guiding shaft 164 moves in the length direction together with the slant control shaft 180.

The position guiding shaft 164 may be connected to the slant plate 130 with a variable pin so as to be rotatable together with the slant plate 130. Or, alternatively, the position guiding shaft 164 may be fixedly secured to the slant control shaft 180 so as to be movable with the slant control shaft 180.

FIG. 2 illustrates a partial perspective view of a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 illustrates a partial perspective view of a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the slant plate 130 may have the variable pin 200 arranged across a center of the slant plate 130 to which the slant control shaft 180 and the position guiding shaft 164 may be connected.

The position guiding shaft 164 has a circular cross section, and the position detecting sensor 162 has one side with a guide groove 420 formed therein. The position guiding shaft 164 may have one side of an end portion outside circumference to be in close contact with an inside circumference of the guide groove 420.

The position detecting sensor 162 detects a position of the position guiding shaft 164 according to an area of contact to the position guiding shaft 164 precisely, and transmits a signal thereof to the control unit 160.

FIG. 4 illustrates a partial sectional view of a variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the position guiding shaft 164 is secured to the slant control shaft 180 with a securing cap 400.

In more detail, the position guiding shaft 164 has a securing flange 410 formed on one side thereof, the position guiding shaft 164 is arranged to pass through the securing cap 400, and the securing cap 400 fastens the securing flange 410 to the slant control shaft 180.

In this case, the position guiding shaft 164 may translate with the slant control shaft 180 and the securing cap 400, and may rotate at the slant control shaft 180 and the securing cap 400.

For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner” and “outer” are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures.

The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A variable compression system for controlling a slant angle of a slant plate comprising: a rotation plate arranged to rotate with reference to a rotation axis; the slant plate coupled to one side of the rotation plate with a hinge arranged to rotate with the rotation plate; a compression piston connected to an edge of the slant plate arranged to reciprocate along the rotation axis by rotation of the slant plate; a slant control shaft connected to a center of the slant plate with a variable pin arranged to rotate with the slant plate for pushing or pulling the slant plate by a hydraulic pressure being supplied thereto to control the slant angle of the slant plate; a position guiding shaft arranged passed through a center portion of the slant control shaft for moving according to movement of the slant control shaft; a position detecting sensor engaged to the position guiding shaft for detecting a position of the position guiding shaft; and a control unit for determining the slant angle of the slant plate with reference to a signal from the position detecting sensor.
 2. The variable compression system of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls to vary a compression capacity of the compression piston which compresses a refrigerant with the slant angle of the slant plate.
 3. The variable compression system of claim 1, wherein the position guiding shaft is connected to the variable pin to rotate with the slant plate.
 4. The variable compression system of claim 1, wherein the position guiding shaft is arranged to rotate at the slant control shaft and to move with the slant control shaft in a length direction of the slant control shaft.
 5. The variable compression system of claim 4, further comprising: a securing flange formed on one side of the position guiding shaft, and a securing cap fastened to an end portion of the slant control shaft rotatably passed through the position guiding shaft for fastening the securing flange to the slant control shaft in a length direction thereof.
 6. The variable compression system of claim 5, wherein a valve is mounted to an outer circumference of the securing cap.
 7. The variable compression system of claim 1, wherein the position detecting sensor is a contact sensor which is in contact with the position guiding shaft.
 8. The variable compression system of claim 7, wherein the position detecting sensor has a guide groove for guiding movement of the position guiding shaft, the guide groove being matched with an outside circumference of the position guiding shaft. 